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was bound to appear in a public school until it had been sifted and selected as it has been now—lias completely disappeared, and a quiet thoughtful type of character—which is ever the truest source of good manners—prevails throughout. There is also manifest the greatest enthusiasm for work, and the ordinary duty of the teacher is here often reversed, inasmuch as the mistresses have to check the ardour of the girls instead of stimulating it. But perhaps the most noticeable improvement through all the classes is of a different kind one could easily see, in spite of their tired looks from their long and difficult examinations, that the physique of the ptfpils is far more robust than before. This is doubtless due to the attention now paid to gymnastics and lawn tennis in the school, and to the judicious reduction in the amount of home work. I attach to my report comparative tables of the percentages obtained by each class in each subject for 1882 and for 1883. But I shall close it with a short table, comparing the work of these two sessions with the percentages obtained by the eight best candidates for Junior Scholarships in last year's University Junior Scholarship examination : —

I haye, &c, The Chairman, Board of Governors. J M, Beown

3. Ebpoet of the Examines in Latin and Eoman Histob*. Gentlemen, — I was appointed by you to examine the Girls' High School in Latin and Eoman history I have the honour to report to you the result of the examination. Latin. —Class 111. This is the lowest form that does Latin. lam glad to be able to repoi't very favourably of the examination in all three divisions of this form. The last two divisions had evidently had great pains bestowed upon them. Their ages vary from seventeen to twelve, and anybody with any experience in education knows that such a class requires a great deal of management to keep it together. The two little girls in Division I. knew their work so well that it was sible to make any difference between them. In fact, they knew it so well that they could, I think, have begun higher work. But this, if a fault at all, is a fault on the right side.—Class IV., Division 11. This is a class which is just beginning to emerge from the short sentences of the Principia and attack more continuous Latin reading. This is a much more difficult step than anybody but those who have had actual experience of it would believe, and it is perfectly legitimate and often necessary for teachers to concentrate the energies of the class on this difficulty almost to the exclusion of all others, until a habit has been formed of rendering Latin sentences into fluent and grammatical English. This habit, once established, will require much less attention, for it grows of itself. The said habit seems to have been acquired by this class, but not in time, perhaps, for them to go over ground that had been lying fallow in the meantime. This would account for their translation and parsing being good, but their composition very poor, with the exception of one girl who did well, and two who did fairly. The above remarks will apply to Division I. of the same class also. The composition paper was perhaps a little hard, but the blunders made consisted chiefly in violations of the simplest rules of syntax or ignorance of elementary accidence. But, as I have said, when time is limited, and the habit of fluent translation into English is being acquired, some neglect of composition is almost inevitable, and perfectly justifiable.—Classes V., Lower VI., and Upper VI. In all these classes the work was good with the exception of the Latin composition. As I reported last year, the style in the Upper Sixth Class was good, but the composition was sadly disfigured by errors in elementary grammar and syntax in each of these three forms. The paper in Latin accidence and grammar, which was set throughout the school, was of a kind that was evidently unfamiliar to the school as a whole , but it was very creditably done, and this makes it all the more remarkable that the knowledge of Latin grammar therein displayed did not find its application in the writing of Latin composition. Boman History. —This was well done throughout the classes in which it was studied. The questions were very fully and accurately answered, and the girls seemed to have thought for themselves on the subject. Their English style was good also, but in their translation from Latin they did not take quite sufficient pains to catch the spirit of the original. In this point, however, they have improved on last year In fact, I think the work all round is rather better It will be seen that the weak point in the higher forms is the Latin composition. This can be easily improved by insisting upon grammatical accuracy Without this accuracy the mental training which should result from the study of language is never acquired, and with it literary cultivation gains enormously. I can most emphatically indorse the words of the University Chancellor on this sub-

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Subject. Girls' High School Percentage for 1882. Girls' Higli School Percentage for 1883. Average Percentage of the •Eight Best Candidates for Junior Scholarships in ths Examinat ion hold throughout New Zealand in 1882. English composition English grammar English literature heading and spelling of the four lower classes .. listory reography 56 p.c.-) ( 54 „ 53 p.c. 49 „ j 1 58 p.c.) 541 „ 581 p.c. 63 „ ] 57-| p.c. 56 „ 65 „ 58 ;;W54:1- p. e ,